Zeros Zap the Zing
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day five hundred and four:  abc 26 of 26  After performing "Empire State of Mind" to the students of McKinley, they hoped for so much...


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 23rd cycle. Now cycle 24!_

_**ALPHABET 2.0** - So nearly a year ago (HA!) I had done a set of stories taking inspiration by words, three for each letter of the alphabet (started with Acapella, Audition Arts in mid-February and every other day to April). Well now I wanted to do something like that, but using the alphabet another way. Instead of random words, I made sentences, all with those same letters (you'll see). The first half was in cycle 22, now here's the second half in cycle 24!  
**TODAY:** (26 of 26) Z is for..._

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**"Zeros Zap the Zing"  
New Directions **

They may not have been so well-versed in adoration and reverence, but they had experienced… some. They remembered the applause and cheers from past-performance, at Sectionals, Regionals – even if they'd lost – and then of course in their rousing performance of 'Push it' at the assembly, even at Invitationals…

They had shown themselves so mighty, even where a lot were ready, willing and practically insisting to put them down. Now they had one simple message: they were there, and they were who they were, and if anyone wanted to live that with them, then all they had to do was to show sign of it…

The song ended, and they all sat in their place, vibrating with the joy of music, of glee, ready to welcome…

They could well have never been there and no one would have seen a difference.

Life just went on, the sea was undisturbed… not even a little wave. Now they waited, though the sensation was clear, no one would come…

"I saw someone before, she looked interested," Rachel looked around. "Can't see her…"

"Yeah, I saw someone, too. Blonde guy. I think he was at football tryouts," Finn added, also looking, also coming up empty.

"Well this is embarrassing," Tina commented, giving the others as good of an inclination to get up and leave as any.

"Wait!" Rachel begged them.

"For what?" Santana asked, as Brittany stole her hat off her head, placing it atop her own.

"Yeah, they're not moving," Puck declared. "I told you, if we just waved some bills in their faces, or…"

"No bribes!" Rachel cut in, and he frowned.

"We tried," Quinn added. "They're not going to jump at the chance. Who can blame them?" Rachel opened her mouth. "Besides you," Quinn spoke before she could. "They're not going to volunteer to become Slushie targets."

"Yeah, we don't lead the calmest of lives around here," Artie argued.

"I can't believe how easily you're just willing to accept defeat," Rachel addressed them all.

"Oh, here we go," Santana shook her head.

"It's not over," Finn spoke up here, and the others turned to him. "All we need is one more, right? We've got two possibles, so let's try with those. I'm sure if we try we can get at least one of them to join us."

"Good, that's good," Rachel nodded with a smile, the proud girlfriend.

But then the silence resettled, and it pushed heavily on their shoulders. Little by little they sat back down, like maybe there would be some delayed soul who would suddenly show up and rescue them from feeling like they were absolutely invisible.

"Should we do it again?" Brittany chimed in, taking off the sunglasses, which Santana took and pushed on top of her head. "Maybe they didn't hear us."

"They heard us," Mercedes assured her. "Now they're ignoring us."

"Well, so what?" Mike spoke up, which got the others looking at him, in some surprise. "You guys were already doing your thing before Puck and Matt and I came around and made it twelve members. So there's eleven of us now… Doesn't make us any different, so let's just keep going." He had wanted to lift some spirits, and his hopes were answered, with a quiet rush of smiles and raised shoulders.

"But we do need a twelfth…" Rachel tried to remind them, and Finn put a hand to her shoulder, shaking his head, as though to say 'not now,' so she stopped there.

"They'll find their way," Quinn nodded confidently. "I mean, we did, the three of us, and the guys, who ever thought we would?"

"Not me," Brittany shook her head.

"But it doesn't mean we don't still try," Quinn put in before Rachel could pipe up again, and they shared a nod on that.

"We should probably go change," Artie looked to the thinning crowd. "Class is going to start again."

They got up again, making one last scan of the people around, hoping someone would make a last minute decision to come forward, but no one did. They went back into school, got their clothes to change. As soon as she was done, Rachel had gone to collect Finn and lead him to the library so they could work on sign-up sheets, which they could post in strategic locations. He had no idea how to do it, so of course she had offered her services to help him on that.

It would take a little while for them to get their twelfth member in Sam, but until then they would take their words with them all the way, to still have fun with themselves, as they had before, with no mind to the fact that they were one member short of a competition eligible club. They would find their way, they always did…

And in a few months' time… New York City…

THE END

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**A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
****In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
****always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!**


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